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Episode 3: Pimp My Nairu
Facebook Teaser Blurb It's Xephora, the month of Mischief. All sorts of strange people and events can be found in Nairu this month. Where do our characters find themselves this time? Gimmick This episode's gimmick was that the players got to build parts of the city with Lego (inspired by the Lego Movie). There was be an invisible points counter for this process. The winner was granted a vision of the goddess Xephora. Summary The First of Xephora *Darraigh is still at the forest temple. The druids see this month as a month of change and they celebrate at the Grandfather Tree. This is a tree in the middle of a sacred grove, which is a haven for animals. The druids sit under it and wait for a leaf to fall in their laps, and then smoke that leaf to experience the "transcendental state of change". *Aiden finds this month of pranks and games frustrating, but he believes the magic of this month can be harnessed to change the world for human good. He uses his most imagnative post-grad students to do dream research for him, which he documents. In one shocking experiment, one student almost manages to dream his ex-girlfriend's house into killing her. Aiden sets his mind to dreaming about steam machines, with the help of his fire spirits. *Every year the museum gets painted by students of the two campuses. It is a tradition, and an event at which people like to be seen. Cassander visits with a woman on each arm - one, the socialite Bambi, the other an unknown woman who might be the daughter of someone rich and/or powerful. He tells those who ask that he is "thinking" about running for office. *As the city changes, the people change themselves. Also, convenient fire escapes arise throughout the city. There is a slight rise in crime. The Second of Xephora *The Grandfather Tree somehow catches on fire. Darraigh tries his best to save the tree. He manages to salvage it somewhat, and it might be healed enough to grow back over time. Why did it burn down? Who did it? The druids aren't really doing anything, so Darraigh is upset. During his time here at the temple he has learnt more about communicating with plants and animals, but he finds these druids frustratingly mellow. He has also noticed a symbol on the wall is much like the symbol on the box he was given last month. Grieving for the loss of the Grandfather Tree, Darraigh dreams nature into Nairu. Foliage is everywhere, and some doorways in Nairu are sealed completely shut! *The Market Quarter is getting ready for the Dungeon Delve. There is an influx of equipment and artefacts, some genuine, some not so much. The Marketeers wake up to a terrible sight - the market quarter has been rearranged! Rupert is blamed, even though it was their own imaginations that did it. *Aiden invents "The De Worde Express". Three casualties in its first run, though none human. *Cassander manages to recreate his apartment to be the ultimate sexy bachelor pad. He makes sure to be seen with Bambi at lots of public events, knowing no one will take him seriously if he is with her. The Third of Xephora *Darraigh sees a door with another of the box's symbols on it and he tries to open it magically. He fails, but this brings out an old hippy who advises him to smoke some weed. Darraigh does so, but it is the door's symbol (whick means Enlightenment) that inhales the smoke. The door opens to reveal a mossy stone room with a fountain and a stone golem inside. There is a little raised piece in the middle of the fountain, shaped like a lemon squeezer, and Darraigh places the box on it and twists. The box unfolds like a flower and reveals a pair of barkskin gloves. The leader of the druids informs him that they belonged to Darraigh's father, and were fashioned out of the bark of the Grandfather Tree that had fallen into his lap. Darraigh doesn't want to wear them, but he also doesn't want to sacrifice them to heal the Grandfather Tree more. So he keeps them. *Aiden manages to get out of Marja's party that she arranged for him. He watches over the train to make sure no miscreants attack it.... in his kaiju mecha which he created with his dreams. Some students of the university do try to take it out (Bambi is with these hooligans!) but get terrified by the kaiju. He decides to attend the train unveiling party after all. *Cassander wakes up in jail for illegal skybear baiting on the top of a tower, for the mysterious disappearance of Bambi, and of tampering with the post. His father arrives to pay his bail. The Fourth of Xephora *Darraigh arrives back in Nairu. He has a one night stand with Bambi, who tells him that the Academy tried to kill her last night! He decides to go to the party. *At the party, Marja introduces Aiden to Ben Burly the artefact hunter, who does not impress Aiden. *Marja cannot see past Darraigh's disguise as Cassander. *Marja drags Cassander into an awkward conversation with his parents. Cassander fixes himself a drink. *Cassander and Aiden have a deep conversation. *Aiden's grandfather gives him a cash bonus for his good work. *Marja unveils the train. *Darraigh tries to destroy the kaiju, but nearly gets crushed. Aiden finds him. They have massive ideoloical disagreements!! But then Ben Burly's orc and goblin companions come to steal the kaiju. Aiden destroys it, and Darraigh apprehends the two. *(Meanwhile, unknown to the rest of the team, Cassander's parents are secret agents, and they are there trying to stop Bambi's evil plans!) Deep Xephora (Seventh of Xephora) *Cassander's parents have signed him up to the Dungeon Delve with an expert demolitions man and spelunker. Aiden's grandfather and Marja have signed him up with a brother and sister team of post-grad students. It is their first delve and they are somewhat incompetent. Darraigh wants in when he sees that the goblin and orc have been bailed out of jail. So he knocks out Sanchez, a member of team Luchadore (Jose and Carlos). *Also present with teams are the Fighter's Guild, the Mage's Guild, the University, the Adventurer's Guild, and the Relic Guild. Also Ben Burly's team is ready to go. *The race begins at 10 AM and they are given their ceremonial everlasting light and time turner. The First Obstacle - the entrance to the Tomb of Horrors *The hole opens up between the Ellipse and the Obelisk, right in the centre of town. While the wining and dining crowd watches on, the heroes descend. Past the first 50 metres of monotonous tunnel they meet a three pronged entrance. The Fighter's Guild take a chance and run right through the correct entrance. Only the Mage's guild and the University team go through the wrong entrance and get wiped out. The Second Obstacle - treasure and chasms in watery ruins *The Fighter's Guild and the Relic Guild each lose a person when they try to reach the piles of gems and relics on one precarious tower. Everyone makes it past the dangerous chasms. The Third Obstacle - The Juggernaut *The Fighter's Guild, the Luchadores, Cassander's team and the Academy team all lose a member to the juggernaut's wheels. But while the rest of them carry on down the main corridor, the main characters notice that Ben Burly has somehow managed to open some doors. This type of doors have been seen before in past Dungeon Delves, but have never before been opened. The main cast goes through this door now. The Fourth Obstacle - another watery chasm *The doors open to another watery chasm with strange growths and old relics. A man made climbing wall leads down to another open set of doors. The remaining members of Aiden and Cassander's team die in the pursuit of the old relics. The Fifth Obstacle - An underground tree? *The heroes, plus the one remaining Luchadore Carlos, find an underground jungle with one massive tree. It is very humid and birdsong can be heard. There are also bones, and a fresh trail of blood leading across the cave to the next set of open doors. One lone hedgehog speaks to Darraigh, entreating him to find his animal friends who have been imprisoned, or he will kill all of them. Obviously one of Ben Burly's team has been injured because they ignored the killer hedgehog. The Sixth Obstacle - a Stone Golem *Obviously there has been another fight in here, between Ben Burly's team and the stone golem which activates as soon as they enter the room. The luchadore starts to fight rather than run, so the others join in to help him. With Darraigh restraining it with vines, and a lot more magic being thrown around, they are able to make quick work of it. The Seventh Obstacle - the prison of the animals *There is a simple latch stopping the imprisoned animals from escaping. Before lifting the latch, however, Darraigh calms the animals. The monkey joins the party. The Eight Obstacle - the room of ultimate death I mean treasure *Just in time, the others manage to dogpile Carlos and talk him down before he runs to grab the piles of treasure. They head through the last set of opened doors. The Ninth Room - the long pinnacle over the abyss *Cassander recognises the legendary "Nairu Mechanism" - the very artefact of the Ancients which was originally discovered and used to bring the city back into the sky. Ben Burly's key that he discovered last month is in his hand now as he heads toward the mechanism. Darraigh throws an imbued stone perfectly at the man and knocks the key out of Ben Burly's hand... into the abyss. Ben Burly turns, and with an otherworldly rage, run back towards them. *Cassander shoots him while Darraigh entangles him with vines. Aiden makes his axe too hot to hold and it falls into the abyss too. Then Carlos attacks and they both go flying into the abyss too. But Darraigh manages to catch them with his vines. They get hauled back up. *It is too late for Ben's goblin companion - he has bled out from the blow the hedgehog dealt him. But Cassander manages to stabilise Grok, Ben's orc lover. Ben won't talk. *They take the prisoners back. Aiden manages to salvage some treasure from the dead, as well as rescuing some of the personal effects of the dead Academy students. They also return the animals to the hedgehog. The hedgehog rewards them with another ancient locked box. *The team makes it out at 9.55PM. The last remaining member of the Fighter's Guild - and the only survivor from all the other teams - is the winner of the Dungeon Delve. *Ben and Grok are apprehended and only the relevant authorities are notified of what it is they tried to do down below the oblivious city. *Darraigh is punched out by the real Sanchez, who retrieves his mask and rejoins Carlos to grieve Jose. The Next Day (Eighth of Xephora) Aiden, Cassander and Darraigh all meet in the Race Relations Room. Even though he doesn't like the two of them, he admits it's time that they worked together to stop the dark forces trying to literally bring this city crashing down to the ground.